Florence and Posy

It's been more than two months since I last made a Little Lady!  I had such a craving to make one, so here is  Little Florence with Posy, an Anime Bunny.  Posy had been waiting in my sketchbook for the right time to be brought to life, though the original drawing was one of a more kookier looking bunny with lopsided eyes and wonky ears.  She had a mind of her own whilst I was sewing her and came out nothing like the sketch, even demanding a flower for her chartreuse green needle felted hair!

I decided to try a new face on Florence - I know that sounds strange, but usually I do the same sort of facial features for my Little Ladies.  This time I wanted something different.  You might notice the subtle difference of her eye shape and the placement of the features.  The yarn I used for her hair is such a gorgeous shade of chartreuse green -  though this is the last of the batch:(  She wears a dress in a dear Peter Rabbit print and one of my mom's mohair cardigans.

We'll be away for the weekend, so hope you all enjoy yours!!
~hugs,
Shelly

Alice, Olivia and Grace

Recently, I was commissioned to create two dolls for a very dear lady in England.  She had purchased my first little paperclay doll, Maya and decided that she wanted two more to share with her mom and best friend.  I of course, was delighted to have the honour of creating these little lovelies for her and, after many convo's back and forth about hair and eye colour, favourite colours and names, they're ready for their new homes.  I decided to do another doll while I was at it, and she is my version of the beloved 'Alice'.  All were sculpted from paperclay and their little faces and shoes were painted with water colour paint.  For Olivia, the pale blonde haired doll, and Grace, the brunette, I used mohair for their hair, and for Alice, I used a stawberry blonde braided wool.  For their dresses, I used embroidered cotton lace and embelished them with ribbon. and embroidery thread.  Olivia and Grace wear fabric flower hair ornaments, while Alice's is made with metal.  Olivia and Grace will be travelling to their new homes tomorrow, and Alice is available in my shop.

I would like to share their process....

 

Olivia

                                                                                                                                                         Grace

Alice

It's hard to express how wonderful it is to see these dolls evolve from a lump of clay, bits of fabric and a little imagination! 

Have a lovely Sunday:)

Witches, Webs and an Execution....

Hello, it seems like such a while since I've had time to blog!  I've been dying to share what I've been doing, but wanted to wait till I had this batch of ornaments finished so I could show them all at once!  It was killing me not to post any pic's of them (well, except for the witch in the last post that I just couldn't help!), but they're all ready now, and here they are...

These are the boxes they'll be travelling in, a nice way to store them too.  I hand painted each one and glued pretty paper on the bottoms of each box and lid.  I then added a sheer ribbon around the side of the box and will sign and date the bottom of each one.

Here each one is nestled in her box.  Boxes have not been painted at this point:)  Each ornament is sculpted with paperclay and painted with water colour paint.  Both witches have been finished with a crackle medium and the other two are left in the matte state.  I've used two types of mohair and braided wool for their hair.

My favourite is Marie Antoinette, complete with bloody neck and blood stained ruffle collar!  Her hair is a beautiful, silky mohair and I gave her a glass bead crown.

Virginia is known as the 'Spider Lady'.  She wears a top hat embroidered with a silver web and tiny glass beads and on her temple and cheek are delicate hand drawn webs.  At her neck she wears a sheer black ruffle with glass pearls.

Sage is known for brewing the best bat tea and witches come from far and wide to enjoy a cup with her!  Her hair is made with a strawberry blond braided wool that I seperated - it reminded me of finger waves.

Rowena is ready for the big night!  She's dressed in her favourite hat and cloak which she embellished with tiny red glass beads.  She loves to sew and runs a tiny boutique for fashionable witches!

I'm so glad to finally have them all done and to share them with you!  There are many more ideas in my head for more in the future!

Witch Ornament and New Dolls

Good morning, and what a lovely morning it is here on the West Coast!  I've been up since the crack of dawn today, watering the garden and tending the flowers.  It seems that summer goes by in the blink of an eye and I'm already dreading the wet, cold months ahead!  So, as often as I can, I get up really early and enjoy as much of the sunshine as a possible!

I wanted to share two little projects I've been working on this week.  Above is one of my very first halloween ornaments made from paper clay.  As you can see, she's a witch and I have three more in various stages of halloweenism.

Below are body parts of some clay dolls I'm working on, two of which are custom orders for some lovely ladies in England.  They will be in the style of my first paperclay doll, Maya, but with different hair, eye and ribbon colours.  I will post more photo's as the progress comes along.

You can see two of the ornamental heads in the pictures, the one with the paler strawberry blond hair is the witch in the top pics.  The other head has since been painted and sealed and she'll be wearing high black collar, beaded with red glass beads and a witch hat.  The other two ornaments will remain a surprise for now.

Hope you all have a super fabulous weekend!

Mad Sewing Day!

I got it into my head that I just HAD to make some Blythe dresses.  My girls have been feeling a little neglected as of late, so to cheer them up, they each took turns trying on the outfits and getting poked and prodded with pins.  The new dresses are now available in my mom's etsy shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/myfairdolly

Skye and Julip LOVE having their pictures taken and were quite happy to pose for the camera! 

The dress at the top is a double layered, smokey-grey gauzey cotton with a pale stripe.  I added sheer black ruffle shoulder straps, tiny black buttons on the bodice and on the top layer of the skirt, tiny red heart buttons.  A matching striped ruffle peeks from the bottom layer of the skirt.  I also made a tiny hair clip with black organza and the striped grey cotton.

Pale grey dotted linen was used for the next outfit, and I embellished it with cream lace at the hem and shoulder straps.  Cute yellow buttons and embroidery thread were used as accents.  For the hair clip, I made a tiny boy in matching fabric and used a tiny yellow button at the centre.

I have a little secret to share....  Pretty soon, Julip and Skye will have a new sister!  She is a Cassiopia Spice Blythe and she is on her way any day now.  We're all pretty excited and have even picked out a name for her,  Peony.  Will share the pic's as soon as she's here!!

Have a fantastic and creative week,
hugs,
Shell

We Have a Winner!!

Ooohhh, I just love this part!!  All the names were written out and each one folded and put into my favourite fruit bowl.

My trusty helper, Dylan was ready to do the picking.  Who will it be?  Open it already!!  Hurry!!

 

It's Cayora!!  Congratulations!! 
As soon as I get your address, I'll pop them in the post for you.  Hope you have many happy sewing days!!

Thanks to everyone for participating in this give-away!  All the names are delightful and I'm debating on which one to use first.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend:)

Miss Josephine's Trip to the Boutique

Dressed in a pale apricot lace gown, Miss Josephine is a veritible font of excitement as she gets ready to visit Madame de le Fleur's Boutique where the fall collection of bonnets, ribbons and reticules will be on display for perusual.

Today she wears her wavy auburn hair tied in a bow to match her beaded lace neck cuff and satin slippers.  As she peeks in the mirror, she pinches her cheeks to add some rosy colour and adjusts her cream batiste overskirt, making sure that the delicate roses at her back waist aren't crushed before she leaves.

This little miss has had a long journey to get her to her final stage.  On the way, she's gone through many different looks and I'm finally happy to say that she's ready!  She measures about 6.5 inches tall, and fits in the palm of my hand perfectly.  Her hair is made from a beautiful auburn mohair, each tiny section carefully placed and glued into a soft, windswept style that may be gently combed and arranged.  I've added tiny green glass beads to her lace collar, as well as to the centre of the roses on the back waist of her overskirt.  Water colour paint and pencil crayons were used to accent her facial features as well as her shoes.

Available in my shop today:)

Buntzen Lake and a Link to an Awesome Give-Away!

John and I took a trip up to Buntzen Lake yesturday evening and paddled around for a couple of hours.  Isn't the scenery fantastic?  We are trying to get as much canoeing in as possible while the weather is good and will be finding a new lake each time.  My talented hubby made the two canoes recently and foolish me was too nervous to try them out till the very end of our holiday a few weeks ago.  So glad I finally did - it's way easier to get in and out than it looked!

I wanted to share a link to a very sweet give-away that Pudra Studios has got on the go.  The prize is a very dear little bear, hand made by Irma in honour of her first year blog anniversary.  Please pop over and take a look!  http://pudra-studio.blogspot.com/2010/08/loterija-giveaway.html

Best of luck, and don't forget to enter my Give-Away if you haven't done so already!

Give - Away!! Needlebook and Pincushion

Hello everyone!  I'm pleased to announce that I have another little Give-Away on the go!  Up for grabs is a sweet needlebook embroidered with a tiny pink bear and inside are two felt sheets for storing all your needles.  The matching pincushion is embroidered with tiny flowers and  trimmed in cotton lace and glass beads.  Of course, the pins and needles are not included:)

As most of you know, I'm a doll and bear maker, so for this give-away I've decided to add a little bit of a challenge....  I'm looking for unusual/interesting names for up-comming Little Ladies, Artist Anime Bears and Paperclay dolls.  So, all you have to do is leave me a comment on my blog with a name or two and on Friday evening, August the 6th, I'll put all your names into a hat and draw out the winner.  I will then notify the lucky winner and as soon as I receive the address of where to mail them to, will send them on their way!

Best of luck to you all!